When you step out of the elevator at Veggie SF, a small 50-seat eatery in Hong Kong’s Central district, you’ll feel as though you stepped into a time capsule –- an American one.

The space is decked out with all sorts of bric-a-brac from the 1950s: license plates, street signs, steering wheels, vintage telephones and cameras, and even ice skates cover the turquoise blue wall. A sign on top of a large American flag reads “Hostess cup cakes, 2 for 5 cents.” It smells a bit like a Hindu retreat -– a fragrant mist of spices and candles.

The restaurant has been open for a year and now the usual crowd is a loyal group of vegetarians, vegans (vegetarians who eat no animal products), pescatarians (fish eaters) and flexitarians (occasional meat eaters).

Owners Paul and Bess Choi say omnivores are welcome, too. But the menu is strictly vegetarian, with some vegan options, and is heavy on organic ingredients. And — in case you’re “nongarlician” (you have something against garlic) — there’s a note on the menu that it can be taken out in certain dishes.

The dishes have names inspired by the owners’ previous home, San Francisco. You’ll find “Oakland Breeze”: a Vietnamese-style cold vermicelli tossed in fish sauce with cubes of fried tofu and two skewers of seitan (a type of wheat gluten) covered in sweet chili sauce for 88 Hong Kong dollars (US$11). “Union Square” is a hearty vegetarian lasagna served with a dollop of homemade pesto atop a perfectly browned layer of cheese (HK$98).

The dishes here celebrate vegetables instead of masking them. So expect generous bunches of herbs and bean sprouts in the vermicelli, and large chunky zucchini and tomato pieces in the lasagna. Dishes are lightly seasoned, not bursting with flavor. And though it leaves you satisfied, this is not the type of food most people would crave late at night.

The naughtiest offering on this ultrahealthy menu is the popular “I Am Fabulous” (HK$98), which is their best shot at recreating the cheese burger, without meat of course. The patty is made from an oven-baked organic beet-root pâté and covered with cheese. Two large potato wedges are fried up on the side. It looks like beef, but who are we kidding? Nobody’s fooled.

In all, there are only six options on the lunch menu, which can be upgraded to include either a soup or dessert, and a drink for another HK$42. The soups change daily and are done well — the smooth and creamy winter melon and barley soup was a bowl of comfort. Likewise, the signature dessert, a moist chocolate cake (HK$38) is worth saving room for.

There’s also a short list of side dishes including curried veggie balls (HK$32) and veggie nuggets (HK$32), which contain eggs. But there’s no Coca-Cola or other types of sugar-saturated soda on the drink list. The closest you’ll find in that category is the organic soda, a lightly carbonated and lightly sweetened alternative (HK$16). But why go for that, when you’ve got chocolate milkshakes (HK$38) as an option?